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It's Fun to Play the Piano ... Please Pass It On!

Walked into our hotel lobby and immediately ran into Jim & Sandy Fariss and Ann Cooper. My sister and her husband are also here.

Here is the view from our hotel room window, two tall ships (one is U.S.C.G.).

Weather is gorgeous.

After dinner last night we walked over to the piano bar (also part of the hotel). Pianist had just finished. Introduced myself, he got all excited. Turns out he knows and loves Piano World :-) 5000 miles from home and the first piano player we meet knows PW.

Most of the tour participants should be here by tonight (Sunday 5 June). I'm sure there will be lots more pictures and stories to follow.

And for those of you who have been following my "Importance of Piano Room" thread, I have indeed selected my new piano, additional details to follow.

Frank, don't forget to pass out the Piano Forum hats and T shirts! Remember the attention they got on the cruise?

Hi Carol,We will if we can find them. We shipped them to Germany 2 weeks ago. They arrived but the P.O. only "attempted" delivery once, nothing since. So all the goodies we purchased and shipped are sitting in a p.o. somewhere in Germany (if they haven't shipped them back to the states).

Can't wait to meet all of you here in Cologne. Weather here is stormy this morning, but I'm hoping it will clear by the time you arrive. The WDR piano atelier will be fun and the Dom, Cathedral? It is AMAZING. I've lived here for 16 plus years, and I am still stunned by the size of it.

Enjoy that nice big German breakfast!

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Robin Meloy Goldsbywww.goldsby.deAuthor of PIANO GIRL: A MemoirRHYTHM: A Novel RMG is a Steinway Artist

Okay, I met everyone this afternoon and they are a great group!!! I am completely jealous that I am not on the entire tour with them. My first clue that they were having fun was when I called the tour guide—GUNTHER— and it sounded like the people on the bus were having a really cool party.

My husband and I met them at the WDR Radio/TV station and we were given an amazing tour of the WDR piano atelier. In addition to a bunch of great Steinways, the WDR also is home to many historical instruments, which we got to play. Pretty cool.

We left the group as they were going off to the Dom Cathedral, which is the biggest Gothic cathedral in Western Europe.

Tomorrow the group will come to the castle where I play—looking forward to it!

And Frank's girlfriend Kathy is wonderful!!!

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Robin Meloy Goldsbywww.goldsby.deAuthor of PIANO GIRL: A MemoirRHYTHM: A Novel RMG is a Steinway Artist

Wow! That shot of the Steinways all lined up almost sent me into sensory jubilation. I fear they would have to pull me from the room screaming and kicking. Interesting that they keep them on temporary legs. Until they ship?You know, that floor looks like the same floor in another picture I was looking at this morning...hmmm.

I will try to come back and add captions to everything as soon as I get a chance. We will have hundreds of pictures to add as well. Kathy had over 2000 in her camera alone.

Obviously we will weed out the duplicates, bad shots etc., but still lots of pictures coming from Jim, me, Kathy (LadyFord) and others.

For now, Jim's pictures. I promise we will add many more soon.

Robin's husband John Goldsby who arranged an exclusive tour of the WDR (famous public radion station in Germany) amazing piano collection. These are NOT display pieces, they PLAY them! (as did we).

More of their collection, dating from 1700's

John Goldsby, Robin Goldsby, Me, Paul (the technician who gave an incredible presentation on this amazing collection).

The Entire Piano World Piano Forums European Tour Group in front of the WDR building...

A group shot in front of the Magic Kingdom. Oh wait, I think it was actually a Cathedral :-)

Found a piano in the lobby of the hotel we are staying at in Bonn. Hotel is right on the Rhine, the banks of which are studded with castles.In the picture is me (Frank Baxter), Kathy, Jan Oliver (a forums member who lives in Germany and drove an hour to be with us), and Elle our German contact from Hills Travel (and the person who worked incredibly hard to help make this all come true).

Ah, now I know why everyone was late getting to the bus this morning. Some of our group enjoying the Bier Garden attached to the hotel. Yes, that is the Rhine River behind them.I will name everyone later, but you should know that the gentlman on the right closest to the camera is Guenter our personal guide for the entire tour. He is one amazing man. Knows all the facts about everywhere we go, makes everyone feel right at home, and fixes anything that needs fixing. We are lucky to have him.

Had an absolutely magical day today. Started in Beethoven's childhood home (he was actually born in the house and lived there as a child). Very special walking on the same floorboards he did, and seeing two of his actual piano (plus lots more).Then we went to the SchlossHotel Lerbach (forgive any spelling errors, it's late here and I'm doing this by memory).

This is the Castle where our own Robin Meloy Goldsby (the Piano Girl) plays. Amazing place, just gorgeous.Robin is exactly as I suspected, a beautiful person outside and inside. She gave readings from her books (had us laughing so hard our sides were hurting), and played beautiful music to go with her stories. Much more on this later.

Us, and some guy who plays the piano.

Self Explanatory...

And his front door.

This gives you some idea of what the castle looks like.The grounds were as amazing as the castle itself.

In front of Robin's castle

Robin reading to us, too funny!

And playing pieces for us that went with the stories.She apologized for having to bring us to this room instead of the one upstairs with the grand (in the lobby). We didn't care, we were thrilled to be there.

Robin holding one of her CDs. She graciously gave everyone of us one of her CDs, and her super talented jazz bass playing husband have us one of his. This on top of everything else they did for us! (The WDR tour was only for us, tour groups don't get to see the piano collection).

Stayed tuned, tons more pictures and stories coming!It's 12:30 P.M. here now and I've got to catch some sleep. Up early and on the bus to Leipzig!

Found a piano in the lobby of the hotel we are staying at in Bonn. Hotel is right on the Rhine, the banks of which are studded with castles.In the picture is me (Frank Baxter), Kathy, Jan Oliver (a forums member who lives in Germany and drove an hour to be with us), and Elle our German contact from Hills Travel (and the person who worked incredibly hard to help make this all come true).

Hi,

yep, that guy in black would be me. I joined this amazing tour for their two days in Cologne and Bonn and got to meet everybody. It was great! I really enjoyed meeting you guys, thanks everybody! And as always, you gotta first have a tour from the other side of the Atlantic come and visit, in order to discover the treasures hidden in your own neighborhood, like the amazing WDR piano collection in Cologne. I'll upload some videos of the event here as soon as they've been converted.

And Robin's reading + concert was a delight. Thanks for sharing Robin! I'm getting way too little sleep because of your hilarious new Asparagus book.

For those on the tour: I emailed the director of the House Of Music Vienna and asked if they can get you guys a special tour of the Virtual Conductor exhibit I designed with the Vienna Philharmonic. I'll keep Günter updated.

What a wonderful trip! Thanks for the wonderful pictures. I wish I could have joined. Maybe next year (sigh).

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Solo - Rachmaninoff Elegie Op 3 #1, Schumann Op 12 Warum, Grillen and a few short pieces by various composersCollaboration - Concerto in C for Oboe and orchestra attributed to Haydn edited by Evelyn Rosewell and some duets

It is so great to be able to see how things are going from day to day.I'm so glad you are having such a good time. We are all green with envy , but happy to be sharing vicariously!!!

_________________________ XVIII-XXXVISometimes I try to progress faster than I am ready for.SwissMsFollow your teacher's instructions and practice wisely/much, and you'll soon wonder how you ever found it hard. BobPicklePerformance anxiety: make it part of your daily routine and deal with it...Cope! zrtf90